“Our current conclusion is that the Activity factor is a diffusive radiation contamination delivered by the meteor shower. This radiation induces structural changes in the cells of humans, animals, plants, and even microorganisms. It also alters both metallic and non-metallic materials — though the precise mechanisms remain unmeasurable with our current instruments.”
Zhang Kan laid it out methodically, the way someone who’d spent decades giving lectures did.
May 18, 2022. The meteor shower had hit without warning and kept hitting, the storm sustained long enough to level virtually every above-ground structure across the country. Hefei was one of China’s four major science and education cities — second-tier by population, but home to a substantial concentration of research infrastructure: two national-level laboratories, including the National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, plus the Institute of Plasma Physics, the University of Science and Technology of China, and dozens of affiliated facilities.
All of it built on the surface.
When the apocalypse came, there had been no time to evacuate, no time to transfer equipment. Personnel and hardware had been destroyed together. What the provincial garrison’s Research Institute had now was assembled from whatever the surviving population happened to include — researchers found among the refugees, equipment dug piece by piece from the rubble at considerable cost in time and lives. One shared laboratory, over a hundred researchers taking turns at limited workstations, grinding through analysis at a pace dictated by scarce resources rather than scientific need.
And almost none of them had evolved. Understanding the process from the outside, without the ability to sense it directly, was a fundamental constraint that no amount of methodological rigor could fully compensate for.
Shen Cong listened and quietly revised his expectations downward.
The Research Institute had identified the Activity factor as a radiation phenomenon. They hadn’t characterized its frequency or continuity properties. They hadn’t identified the Activity Source ceiling — what he called Talent — as a discrete parameter. The seven-tier classification system for evolved beasts had been built on composite observable criteria because they lacked a quantitative framework. The Bronze-Silver-Gold point system for evolved people had been constructed for practical threat assessment rather than scientific precision.
They were working hard with what they had. What they had wasn’t much.
“We’ve analyzed approximately twenty-six insect samples, thirty-five plant samples, fifty-one animal samples, and three special biological specimens,” Zhang Kan continued, “along with the majority of the camp’s mutants and iron people, and a number of disease-changed individuals and half-beasts. We’ve been trying to identify the induction factors for evolution — a way to systematically enhance ordinary survivors’ physical capabilities. So far, without success.”
Shen Cong raised an eyebrow. “Disease-changed individuals?”
“People for whom the process went wrong. Half-beasts are one category — the change affects the brain primarily. Disease-changed individuals are different — somatic mutation, structural deformity, compromised health. The body changes, but not in a beneficial direction.”
He didn’t pursue it further. He could extrapolate: something like the grotesque cat mutation he’d encountered months ago, Activity behaving like radiation in both its mutagenic and its pathological modes. Beneficial evolution and harmful mutation were both products of the same exposure. The harmful outcomes had been mostly eliminated by natural selection — individuals with those mutations had generally not survived the early months. Which was why they were rare now, not absent.
He had more pressing questions.
“What does the Research Institute know about iron people specifically?”
Zhang Kan adjusted his glasses. “As best we understand, the radiation contamination induces biological and structural tissue to transform toward metallic forms — which is why the degree of metallic gradation in an evolved individual correlates with the degree of mutation. Iron people appear to represent a distinct category of induction. The best analogy we’ve found—”
He paused, organizing the comparison.
“A mutant’s bone-gold and an iron person’s vehicle are, structurally, analogous phenomena. Bone-gold absorbs Activity factor, undergoes metallic gradation, and drives physical enhancement in the host. A vehicle absorbs Activity factor — being already metal, it has no organic tissue to transform, so the enhancement concentrates in structural reinforcement and capability expansion. The essential difference is that bone-gold is organic tissue mutating toward metal, and the vehicle is already metal.”
“You’re aware of the siphon effect?”
“We are. When the vehicle’s absorbed Activity factor exceeds its containment threshold, it floods back through the bond to the iron person, causing severe physical trauma. From that observation, we’ve concluded that the vehicle and the iron person form a unified system — something loosely analogous to quantum entanglement, where the state of one is bound to the state of the other.”
“I’ve observed it,” Shen Cong confirmed.
“The solution, as we understand it, is continuous expansion of the vehicle’s effective Activity surface area — increasing the vehicle’s capacity so the threshold rises. We expect you’ll need to pursue this eventually, if you haven’t already.”
“Have any of the garrison’s iron people reached Lv1?” Shen Cong asked. He wanted to know what that transition looked like in practice, though based on everything he’d heard so far, his expectations were calibrated low.
A researcher behind Zhang Kan — also wearing glasses — gave a rueful headshake. “It’s not for lack of wanting. The iron people have mandatory daily operational assignments. And the absorption rate has been slow — physical enhancement capacity hasn’t kept pace. After one iron person died from a siphon event, we stopped pushing the pace. The risk wasn’t acceptable.”
“Slow absorption — even with the abundant zone’s Activity density?”
“That’s one of the anomalies we haven’t resolved. Which is part of why your case is so interesting to us. When we learned how far ahead of our iron people you are, the entire Institute wanted a thorough look at you. We’re hoping you’ll cooperate with a proper assessment.”
Shen Cong’s expression shifted. The color drained slightly from his face as his internal threat model began constructing scenarios. He suppressed the cascade with visible effort.
“We can discuss cooperation later.” His voice came out flat. “Your research level is well below what I was expecting. I’ll be honest — I’m disappointed.”
He was.
Over a hundred researchers, working for months with evolved subjects available for direct study, and they’d arrived at less than he’d worked out alone in a truck. He could construct reasons for the gap — inadequate equipment, the fundamental barrier of studying a phenomenon you couldn’t personally sense, the Institute’s primary mandate being bone-gold weapon production rather than theoretical research — but the reasons didn’t change the outcome.
Still. They were professionals. If he gave them better tools to work with, professional minds applied to better questions tended to produce results.
He made a selection — what he was willing to share versus what he’d keep — and began.
“I call the Activity factor Activity. I call bone-gold Activity cores. The process of evolution is the continuous enhancement of physical capability combined with the progressive metallization of biological tissue. The vehicle’s Activity threshold is what I call the Activity Source — it functions as the capacity ceiling.”
Zhang Kan and his team were listening with the focused attention of people who’d been working in a dark room and just felt someone reach for the light switch.
“The ratio of current Activity content to Activity Source capacity defines the degree of evolution — what I express as a level value. That gives you a quantitative framework for both individuals and vehicles.”
He continued: “The most significant finding I want to pass to you is this. Activity is a radiation with measurable frequency and continuity properties. Every evolved beast and evolved person emits a distinct frequency. I haven’t yet determined why the frequencies differ. But the continuity differential correlates with Activity content, which has practical implications for how enhancement accumulates.”
He gave them the level formula — the Lv, Activity Value, and Talent parameters in full. He did not mention the Bull Demon King Totem or the resonance field. That stayed his.
Zhang Kan absorbed it for approximately three seconds and then his composure broke entirely.
“Extraordinary. Comrade Xiao Hu, you’re — this is exceptional. The Research Institute has been trying to characterize the frequency and continuity properties for months. Your framework is exactly what we’ve needed.” He was already standing. “I need to request an immediate transfer. Comrade Zhao, I’m going to recommend to Commander Zhao this morning that Comrade Hu Ge be seconded to the Research Institute—”
(End of Chapter 146)